A typical marine vessel has one or more internal combustion engines that drive a propulsor, such as for example a propeller, impeller, pod drive, stern drive, outboard drive and/or the like. The one or more internal combustion engines provide thrust necessary to propel the vessel. Some marine vessels also include one or more electric motors, which are typically battery-powered motors utilized for trolling.
Abandoned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/505,075, which is incorporated herein by reference in entirety, discloses marine propulsion systems that connect both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor to a propulsor in torque-transmitting relations so that the propulsor can selectively receive a sum of the torque provided by the engine and the motor.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/910,495, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a hybrid marine propulsion system including a marine propulsor that propels a marine vessel; an internal combustion engine that selectively powers the marine propulsor; an electric motor that selectively powers the marine propulsor; and a control circuit that controls operation of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor according to a plurality of modes.